Empower Your Ministry Blog

We are launching EmPower Your Ministry – The Course on May 11.  That’s just a few days away.  I want to tell you why you… Yes, YOU need to sign up for it.

I wanted to list just 3 reasons that you may need a program like this.

1. It will equip you for the present. I say this because the future is practically here.  Lots of things have changed in the last few years as far as how you promote what you do is concerned.  Lots more changes are coming.  We’ll show you how forward thinking ministries will be able to not only maintain, but be more vibrant.
2. There’s no risk to do it- not to you anyway.  Mickey and I will FULLY refund then money you spend if you don’t feel like we gave you MORE than you paid.  This makes it an easy decision for you and makes me and Mickey REALLY bring the good stuff.
3. It will make you focus.  I know if you are like me, you need accountability.  This program will put you with like minded, motivated people like you.  Do it and just see what happens next.

As you see on the video that I posted about how the course works, there were only 25 spots available in this program. So don’t waste any more time.

There are several bonuses for signing up now, so CHECK IT OUT, okay.

Thank you guys for reading the blog and thank you for your positive feedback.

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Hey Everybody,

I was reading a book last week called QBQ (The Question Behind the Question) by John Miller.  In the book he told the story of a little girl and her daddy.  Her daddy was a pilot and they went out for their weekly airplane ride.

About 20 minutes into the flight, the engine quit.  The dad, in all calmness turned to his little girl-knowing that he could make her panic or give her comfort all by what he was about to say to her.

“Honey, the engine has quit and daddy is going to have to fly the plane a little bit differently.”

He then set up the plane to fly differently… changing switches, testing things until the engine came sputtering and then running without any trouble.  They landed not long after that and the little girl was able to tell her story.

I’ve noticed that the music business and ministry has been changing steadily for the past 10 or so years.  I guess you could say that our engine is sputtering and is about to quit.

My question to you is this: Are you still trying to fly it as though the engine is running the way it always has?

In my training as a pilot, the instructor always tells the student that when something happens, “FLY THE PLANE”.  You may have to compensate for the lack of an engine, but the plane has wings.  The plane will still fly.  The people who try to fly the plane as though it is still powered will stall and then crash.

Don’t lose hope in the music business and ministry.  We may never have the same kind of engine that we’ve had in the past.  FLY THE PLANE.  The new engine will be better than the old one.

EmPower Your Ministry is a great place to start to learn  to use the “new engine”

Learn more about it HERE

[If you are getting this via e-mail, you may want to click the banner above to go to the website.  Cool video included in this post]

Let’s face it.  Music is Free now.  If it’s not now, it will be shortly.  There is an abundance of music and ways to get it for free.  You can go to LimeWire, FrostWire or countless other websites and download as much music as you want.

If you are a musician, and you are trying to make a living by selling CDs and soundtracks, enjoy it while you can.  The fact is, that “model” of being compensated for your time and effort is going away.

Depressed yet? Don’t be. Every time there is an abundance, a new scarcity happens.

Your CD may be free now, but your attention is more valuable than ever.  Your knowledge and ability to help someone with what you already do is valuable too.

What you need is a game plan.

You’ve heard the saying, “Every time a door is closed another one will open”?

I want to tell you about a door that’s opening that you may want to check out.

It’s called EmPower Your Ministry -The Course.  Mickey and I will be launching this 6-week power study course on May 11, 2010.  Click HERE to find out everything you need to know.

Also, check out this little video that my friend (hat tip Dan C.) turned me on to.

Take a few minutes to think about this and then go HERE

Have a good day, friends.

Here’s the continuation of my short interview with Russ Lee.

We talked about the importance of “continuing education” in whatever you do.

If you don’t want to be significant or relevant anymore, sit back on your past accomplishments for too long!

Russ Lee

He went on to say that there are a thousand people ready to take your place if you are not willing to keep educating yourself.

Check out the video here.

That’s one of the things that impresses me about NewSong and Russ. These guys are good enough to just coast through and still be better than alot of people, but they don’t leave it at that. They invest a LARGE amount of time on continuing to improve what they do. It shows!

Can you share with us a few good ways keep improving what you do? We mentioned two… EmPower Your Ministry being one of them.

I just finished a book called Art of the Steal by Frank W. Abagnale.

If his name sounds familiar, it’s because he was the main character of the movie Catch Me if You Can and he was played by Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s one of my favorite movies.

Anyway, in the book, Frank talks about the many ways that people steal from one another- and one story he tells is the story of a young kid who broke into a corporate computer and stole all of the sensitive personal client information.  He then contacted the major company and told them that if they would give him $100,000- he would not only give them all their sensitive information back, but also show them how he broke in and help them to fix it.

The declined his gracious offer and had him arrested.

Now, by this time, you are wondering how this has anything to do with the subject of this blog…right?

Glad you asked!

If this smart young man would have had the foresight or coaching to think about the skill level that he had and then present it in the right way, then he would have made MUCH more than the hundred grand that he asked for… he could have even their trust and then earned millions.

I think he was trying to get money and respect without gaining trust.

For example, if he would have approached the guys and said,  “Hey, I think your system has some major flaws in it and I can prove it to you.  If I can break into your computer system with in the next 2 days, would you agree to consider hiring me as a consultant to help you fix it?”

If he would have taken this approach, he could have secured not only their faulty, under-secured system, but also gained their trust– and YEARS of income for himself.

The point is, no matter what you do… singing, speaking, dentistry or auto-repair.. you have to gain trust before you can get very far.

Trust is not a right… it has to be earned somehow.  You can’t demand that someone trust you (or respect you), you have to prove that you worthy of trust.

In the Empower Your Ministry course, we can show you some effective ways to gain what you need to thrive–TRUST.

What are some of the coolest ways you have seen a business gain trust?

What are some thing YOU have done to gain trust?

I want to know.

Last week, I had the chance to interview my buddy Russ Lee.  Russ sings with NewSong and just finished up the WinterJam tour…

Just a little chit chat about new ways to promote ministries… stuff we teach in the EmPower course.

Would you like to see more interviews? or do you like me to mix it up?

let me know….below

Too many times, We Christians are poor-minded. We concentrate on what’s missing instead of what we have. The problem with this line of thinking is that it is unhealthy and wrong… VERY WRONG!

“Just give me a cabin in the corner of Glory-land” is our mantra sometimes… like we don’t deserve anything… we are King’s kids… KING’S KIDS!

When God created the Heavens and the earth, He created it all… everything we would need… forever.

When he created stars, that was it.. they’re all here. When He created sand, again, all here. Water, buds of leaves in the spring, oxygen, etc.

So think of it this way. When we pray for God to bless us with something, and he says yes (which a lot of times He does), I don’t think God says, “Alright!, I need to CREATE something else for Kevin. I believe that if he answers yes, it has already been made, when He created it long ago… He doesn’t have to make it again… it’s already here… it’s been here.

I think when we pray, it sets OUR minds to find it. Does “Seek and you will find” sound familiar?

Think upon these things.

Think about what’s GOOD, not about what’s NOT.

• When you are thankful for the singers that you have, you tend to attract great singers… maybe because you treat them well.. because you are THANKFUL for them.
• When you are thankful for the bookings you already have, you tend to attract better dates because you DO THOSE DATES YOU HAVE better… because you are thankful for them.
• When you are thankful for the fans you already have, you tend to attract more fans because you treat the fans you have better. You tend to cherish them and create more things for them. They will, in turn, cherish your ministry and give you what YOU need… support.

I think people want to be around other people who have healthy minds… people who have “unhealthy” minds tend to attract those “un-healty” minds to them.

So, here’s the challenge.

Take an inventory of what you already have that is good. Don’t think about what you NEED… just concentrate on what you HAVE and want more of.

If you can’t think of ANYTHING that you have that is good, please do us ALL a favor and find something else to do.

I’ve had to deal with this sort of thinking myself recently.

Susan Unthank asked me if I would like to write an article once a month for SoGospelNews.com.  I was excited first to think that she saw me as a writer and a blogger (alot of people only see me as a Producer/Engineer/Writer dude).

Know what my next thought was?

“Wait a minute.  Why should I write an article for another blog… I have my own blog… Should I write some of my best blog posts for a website that’s not even mine?”

In other words, “I only have a limited number of GOOD blog post.  I shouldn’t give my best stuff away!”

Here is what I AM thinking. (and you should be too!)

“I have an abundance of GREAT blog posts… More than enough for the Empower your ministry blog… plus my course content, plus SoGospelNews.com and beyond”.  According to the Bible, more than I can ask or even think. All I need to do is to be a good steward of what God has already given me and he’ll give me more… that’s what JESUS said (remember the story of the talents?).

This is a mindset that I have to practice… everyday!  You should be practicing too… Let’s do it now.

Below, in the comments section, practice telling God something you are grateful for!

I’m very thankful that you guys read and (sometimes) comment.  I am thankful to be able to encourage people.  I am thankful to be able to search and find mentors and brilliant people to glean knowledge from.

[this is a blog post that I did for SoGospelNews.  I don't know how many of you saw this, so I thought I would re-post it here]

Kevin Ward’s permanent record says he’s the owner of kiloWatt Productions, the VP of Vine Records and the co-creator of EmPower Your Ministry. (His mom would want you to know he’s also a Dove-Award-winning producer who’s been nominated for his songwriting as well.) In real life, he’s a happy husband, soon-to-be father, a seeker of knowledge, and a pursuer of great people.

Online, you’ll find Kevin striving daily to be a mentor and thought leader with his blogs at KevinWardMusic.com and EmpowerYourMinistry.com, where he uses his gifts as a success and life coach to help others do just that. Connect with Kevin on Twitter and FaceBook to join him on the journey.

photo courtesy of dezignmusings.com

It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, sand and stars, 1939

So why do we think when we buy things that it will always add to our life?  Maybe sometimes, we should try to go the other way.  Subtract until there’s nothing left to take away?

We can apply this stuff to gadgets (guilty), projects (guilty), and even producing records (guilty).

I’m trying to keep in mind that if I do take something away in an effort to make it more perfect, and I need it later- that my “provider” will again… provide.

What are your thoughts?

I’d love to add my $.02 worth to this, but the simplicity is what is so great about Seth Godin’s blog post today.

Failure, success and neither

The math is magical: you can pile up lots of failures and still keep rolling, but you only need one juicy success to build a career.

The killer is the category called ‘neither’. If you spend your days avoiding failure by doing not much worth criticizing, you’ll never have a shot at success. Avoiding the thing that’s easy to survive keeps you from encountering the very thing you’re after.

And yet we market and work and connect and create as if just one failure might be the end of us.

I encourage you to go out and fail today!  If you learn from every failure, you are THAT much closer to success.

If you’ve never failed, you’ve never lived